GENEVA (Human Rights Council), September 6, 2026 (SPS) – The situation in occupied Western Sahara is strongly present at the 63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which opened today, Monday, in Geneva and will continue until October 9, through a series of events and activities highlighting the ongoing human rights violations committed by the Moroccan occupation in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.
These human rights activities are focusing on the deteriorating human rights situation in Western Sahara, amid the escalating targeting of Sahrawi human rights defenders through arbitrary detention, surveillance, harassment and intimidation, as well as physical and psychological abuse and sexual violence. This comes as the Moroccan occupation authorities continue to impose severe restrictions on the access of observers, journalists and UN mechanisms to the territory.
Sahrawi and international civil society organizations, in cooperation with a group of friendly diplomatic missions, are organizing a series of side events on the margins of the session, addressing a range of issues, including the situation of Sahrawi political prisoners, environmental degradation in the occupied territories as a result of the systematic plundering of natural resources, and other issues of concern to these organizations.
This comes against the backdrop of growing international documentation of violations committed against Sahrawi human rights defenders and activists. In April, the United Nations Committee against Torture issued decisions concerning cases involving a number of Sahrawi activists, including Abdelmoula El Hafdi and Naama Asfari, as well as members of the Gdeim Izik group, concluding that Morocco was responsible for violations of its obligations under the Convention against Torture.
In this context, human rights organizations participating in the Council’s sessions have repeatedly called on the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms to take concrete measures to protect human rights in Western Sahara. These include ensuring unrestricted access to the territory for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Procedures, urging Morocco to release Sahrawi political prisoners, put an end to reprisals and intimidation against human rights defenders, and guarantee their safe engagement with UN mechanisms.
The current session also provides an opportunity to renew calls for an end to the policy of impunity and to ensure accountability for violations committed in Western Sahara, in line with the United Nations' obligations to protect human rights and to guarantee that the Sahrawi people can exercise their fundamental rights, foremost among them their inalienable right to self-determination. (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)
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